Flow Pivots to Targeted Account Freezes Over Full Network Rollback Following Ecosystem Partner Backlash
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On December 27, 2025, the Flow network suffered an exploit. An attacker leveraged a vulnerability in the transaction execution layer to move approximately $3.9M in assets across Celer, deBridge, Relay, and Stargate bridges.
The incident triggered a 50% crash in the native token price and forced validators to initiate an immediate network halt.
Flow Foundation representatives initially proposed reverting the blockchain to its pre-exploit state. This move faced immediate opposition from Alex Smirnov, the founder of deBridge. Smirnov argued that the foundation failed to coordinate with infrastructure providers before proposing such a drastic measure.
“A rollback would trigger double-spending risks for bridge users and inflict ecosystem damage far exceeding the impact of the initial exploit,” Smirnov stated on X.
In response to the feedback, developers released a revised recovery plan that avoids reversing history. The new strategy utilizes community governance mechanisms to isolate specific attacker-controlled wallets. Validators have already approved a software upgrade allowing for the temporary restriction of these accounts. The fraudulent assets will later be destroyed through transparent, auditable on-chain transactions.
The recovery process is set to unfold in four distinct phases. During the first phase, the Cadence environment will go live, restoring full access for 99.9% of user accounts. The EVM environment will remain in read-only mode until all illegally minted tokens are purged from the system. Bridges and exchanges are expected to resume operations once all ecosystem partners complete a final synchronization.
“Core user balances remain secure and unaffected,” the foundation team confirmed.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advertising or investment advice. Please do your own research before making any decisions.
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